It's Broken
by Mrs. Nozomu Sohma
Summary: [Oneshot. AU to the anime.] What if Tohru hadn't been able to handle seeing Kyo's other form...?


I've read lots of different interpretations of the "what if" concerning Tohru possible rejection of Kyo's true form at the end of the anime. I guess it's nothing new, but I decided to try my hand at it. I tried to give it a slightly different flavor, and hopefully that comes through.

This is meant to be a one-shot and shouldn't be interpreted as anything else. (Even though I rarely seem to write them.)

To anyone reading **Shojo Fukuzai**: I'll try to post the next chapter as soon as I get over my writer's block. I'm aiming for the end of the week.

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own Fruits Basket or it's characters._

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****It's Broken**

The morning after. That was probably the best way to describe the situation currently at hand. Dawn was breaking, and what they had thought would be the most horrible ordeal was finally over. Much to their dismay, though, it had gone all wrong.

As had been planned, Kazuma revealed to Tohru his adopted son's true form, the worst part of the curse of the cat, with the removal of the omnipresent black and white beads on the boy's wrist. Unexpected, the girl hadn't been strong enough to handle the experience.

She had not been able to go after Kyo, not even knowing that she might be the only one who could heal his scars. Instead, she had become hysterical, sobbing and convulsing; not even Shigure's tearful apology had penetrated the frenetic miasma that had engulfed her brain.

Only now was she beginning to calm; she had apparently exhausted her reserves and now sat like a lump on a log on the car seat beside Yuki. Despite the fact that he knew it might not have been doing any good, he held one of her clammy hands between both of his, gently rubbing circles on the back of it. If she noticed the human contact, she didn't acknowledge it.

Shigure and Hatori sat in front, both silent—unusually so, in the case of the generally lively dog. They were headed to the main house, in the hopes of salvaging the situation by any means possible.

Kagura was already there with Kyo. Somehow, she had managed to find him last night and convince him to go back with her. It had actually been her idea to send Hatori for the others, so that they might rectify things.

When they arrived at the estate, Yuki was somehow able to coax the girl inside with soothing words. Tohru moved mechanically, and didn't seem to really be aware of what was going on around her.

The three men led her to Hatori's office. On the way, they passed many of the Juunishi who watched the procession from their own stations, with varying reactions.

Kisa felt tears welling up in her eyes as she whispered, "Neechan…"

Hatsuharu, who was standing with her, felt some measure of pity for Tohru and gently pulled the younger girl to him. He didn't think it was fair to make her watch her beloved sister figure look so broken.

From the doorway of his house, Hiro narrowed his eyes. Despite the fact that he was desperately trying to convince himself that she deserved whatever she was going through now, a small part of him hated seeing Tohru this way.

As the party passed Kagura's house, the young woman watched them with narrowed eyes. Though she felt a small measure of sympathy for the girl, she was more concerned about what effect her rejection had had on her beloved Kyo's fragile psyche.

The orange-haired cat saw her as well, and she heard his breathing accelerate as his wide crimson orbs followed her every movement. The gray-eyed girl immediately turned her attentions to him and began to gently stroke his hair, softly crooning to him as she carefully slid the shoji shut.

Akito saw the shell of a girl trailing along behind Yuki, Shigure, and Hatori, and a cruel smirk flitted across his face. Perhaps now the girl would realize how foolish she had been and would willingly stop trying to infiltrate the Sohma family. With her gone, things would be as they should again.

Only one figure mustered the audacity to make any attempt to stop what everyone must have known would be happening. The blond rabbit raced up to them, shouting, "Ha'ri!"

The doctor sighed tiredly. "Momiji, not now."

Tears welled in the young teen's chocolate-brown eyes. "Ha'ri, you _can't_! Tohru won't want you to!"

The dragon gazed at the rabbit solemnly before gesturing to the girl. "Momiji, do you really think that she could be happy this way?"

The tearful boy turned to gaze at the girl. "But Tohru-kun said…"

He trailed off as he drank in the sight of her, truly caught a glimpse of what she must have been going through. Her once vibrant teal-blue orbs were now dull, having the same luster as marbles. They were so haunting that he had to catch his breath to make sure she hadn't stolen it.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he squeezed his eyes shut as the tears began to flow freely. Clenching his hands into tight fists, he thought, _She said she doesn't want to forget anything…!_

Shigure gazed at the young rabbit with a knowing sadness. Softly, he asked, "Momiji, don't you think it would be kinder to let Tohru-kun forget about this travesty so that she can be happy again? You don't want her to suffer anymore, right? This is what's best…"

The blond boy blinked away the fat crocodile tears and pleaded, "You won't make her forget everything, right, Ha'ri? Just…last night…right?"

There was a heartbreaking quality to his voice that made Yuki's blood run cold. To reinforce his own hopes that everything else would remain intact, he gently took one of Tohru's hands and squeezed it; if she noticed, she didn't let on. She merely stared off into space.

Hatori closed his eyes briefly and sighed again. Then he met Momiji's hopeful gaze. "Yes. Nothing besides Kyo's transformation."

"Kyo…kun…?" whispered Tohru suddenly, startling everyone. Her lackluster eyes were wide and her pupils constricted.

Tightening his grip on her hand, the rat quickly realized that she was trembling and breathing heavily, on the verge of another panic attack. He quickly threw a meaningful glance at his older cousins. They had to act fast if they wanted to salvage any part of their friend without making her a blank slate.

Hatori quickly ushered everyone into his office and prepared to perform the task of erasing the events of the prior evening from the girl's mind. He could only hope that her mind would quickly heal itself without allowing her to realize that something so horrible had befallen her.

Staring at the girl briefly before he began the process, he wondered why it was so difficult for him to do it. He had never had any trouble erasing the memories of any other outsiders, save Kana—why was this so hard now?

Perhaps because he had come to care a great deal for the girl, as all of the Sohmas she had touched had. She was so kind and accepting, it was difficult to remember what life had been like before her acceptance into their fold. If she was allowed to remain the broken figure who sat before them, they ran the risk of losing her forever—something none of them were willing to allow.

Steeling himself, the partially blond doctor concentrated. With a bright flash of light, it was all over.

* * *

The events of that horrible ordeal had been erased from the minds of both Tohru and Kyo, in the hopes that they would be able go on as if nothing had happened. However, everyone else who had been party to it found themselves haunted by the memories of what had been.

It might not have been evident right away, but as the weeks passed, the relationship between the cat and the onigiri steadily began to deteriorate. There was an unmistakable tension in their once-easy routines and they slowly started going out of their way to avoid each other. Eventually, it progressed to a point where it was difficult for the two of them to even be in the same room together.

For the sake of easing the stress, Kyo had moved back to the dojo to stay with Kazuma. Not surprisingly, there was a great deal of relief for both parties when they were finally separated.

Tohru started to become more and more like the girl the Sohmas had known before the Ordeal—as it infamously became known—but there was still something missing. It might not have seemed obvious at first, but there was always a certain sadness in her eyes that had not been there previously. Even if she didn't remember anything that had happened that night, she had been scarred forever.

Kyo began to recuperate as well, but he was also changed. No longer the same headstrong boy who constantly challenged his rival, the Juunishi rat, he was a pale shade of his former self. He always seemed to be lost in thought, as though trying to recover something he sensed was missing but couldn't remember losing.

Despite their claims that they were just fine, the glaring absence of whatever had been lost with their memories became more and more obvious as time went on. However, the Sohmas tried not to dwell on it and instead focused their attentions on the future they hoped would be brighter.

For unknown reasons, Tohru and Kyo both began to gravitate toward the two people who had shown them the most compassion during their time of despondency. Perhaps it was because they continued to shower their mutual charges with attention afterward, or perhaps it was because they merely remained a constant when everything else seemed to be muddled up in their worlds.

Shortly after graduation, Kyo wound up proposing to Kagura. They married a couple of weeks afterward and were now settled at the dojo Kazuma ran but was slowly letting Kyo start to take more control over.

Yuki and Tohru's relationship had taken more time to blossom. It was only shortly before his graduation from university that he managed to get up the nerve to ask her to marry him. She eagerly accepted and they set the date for the following autumn.

As the memories washed over Yuki one evening, he glanced over at his wife—who was walking the floor with their newborn son in an attempt to calm him—and couldn't help feeling a pang of sorrow. _All those years ago…but I just can't seem to forget any of it…_

He had talked to Kagura a few days prior. She was busily trying to navigate her way to the grocery store with three toddlers—two little boys and a girl who was just becoming mobile. They had chatted for a few minutes; any longer, and her children might have managed to elude her.

Before she left, she told him something that struck him to the core. Despite his best efforts to ignore them, the words rang in his head: _"Sometimes I wonder if we did the right thing. Time might have healed this mess…then they could be happy…"_

It took every ounce of belief in his relationship with Tohru to convince himself that his wife was happy with him. Despite the reassurances Tohru had given him when he lamented briefly to her, excluding most of the details, there was an indescribable emptiness in her eyes as she said the words. It made him feel hollow inside, as if his marriage was nothing but a sham.

Yuki knew, of course, that Tohru loved him beyond a shadow of a doubt—but it might not have been to the same depth he felt for her. She had always shared something special with Kyo, something that had been destroyed in the events of the Ordeal. There was no way they could have been happy together, not after everything they had been through.

"Yuki?" His wife's voice startled him. "Are you okay?"

Shaking his head to clear it, he replied, "I'm fine. How's Kazuya?"

She smiled tiredly. "He's fine. Kazu-chan just needed a little attention, I think. Hopefully he'll sleep more tonight."

There was something almost sad about Tohru's smile, a tinge that anybody else would never have noticed. After knowing his wife for almost ten years, though, Yuki could read her easily. _It's still there. It's always there…_

Swallowing the huge lump that had formed in his throat, he hoarsely asked, "Tohru-chan…are you happy?"

The woman was puzzled by the question before smiling that same empty smile, one that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Of course, Yuki. I love you and Kazuya-chan. What else would I need to be happy?"

For some reason she could not understand, she watched as tears began to trickle down her husband's face. He turned away from her and curled into himself, doing everything he could do to keep from weeping freely.

Baffled by his reaction, she gently reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Yuki…kun…?"

As a ragged breath escaped him, she heard him say two words: "It's broken…"


End file.
